The Bowler/Gresham high school football team gave up three touchdowns in the fourth quarter in a 47-46 loss to Oakfield in the WIAA eight-player jamboree Saturday at D.C. Everest’s Stiehm Stadium.
After building a 46-26 lead through three quarters, the Cats (6-4) fumbled the ball away three times in the final period.
“We had too many turnovers at the end and you can’t do that,” Bowler/Gresham coach Ralph Smith said. “You have to protect the football. We just needed one first down and we could have run the clock down, but it didn’t work that way.”
Running back Taylor Schaefer scored two of Oakfield’s fourth-quarter TDs, including a 41-yarder on fourth-and-1 with just over 2 minutes remaining, and six in the game. The 5-foot-7, 148-pound senior finished with 376 yards on 29 carries.
“We pretty much got dominated by Mr. Schaefer,” Smith said. “He kind of took care of things.”
When the Oaks (6-4) got the two-point conversion and the 47-46 edge, it was their first lead in the game.
The Cats’ day started out much better, with a 3-yard plunge by running back Cody Montez opening the scoring. The junior would finish with 59 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. He also had a two-point conversion.
The Oaks answered with a 59-yard touchdown run by Schaefer.
Zachary Olson, Bowler/Gresham’s 5-foot-9 junior running back, scored the first of his four TDs as the Cats regained the lead. Olson finished the day with 17 carries for 149 yards and two catches for 59 yards.
Schaefer scored from 55 yards out before a blocked punt by Jay Onesti in the second quarter set up Olson’s second score, a 15-yard sprint up the right sideline that gave the Cats a 22-14 lead.
Schaefer brought the Oaks to within 22-20 with a 31-yard touchdown run, but Bowler/Gresham quarterback Thomas Kazik found Blade Cameron on a bomb down the left sideline to get the Cats to the Oakfield 1-yard line with 21 seconds left before halftime.
Kazik went the final yard for the TD and got the two-point conversion to extend the Cats’ lead to 30-20 at halftime.
Olson added a pair of second-half rushing touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Oaks down.
Kazik completed three of six passes for 68 yards. Cameron had two catches for 60 yards.
The game wrapped up the Cats’ first season in eight-player football and its first venture into the postseason.
“It was a blast. It was exciting,” Smith said. “The guys were excited about getting to the next level and getting to play an extra game. Hopefully it’s a good momentum builder for the future. Eight-man football, we really enjoyed it this year, and we’re going to continue playing it.”
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